Last Thursday, Klukwan residents led a ceremony to honor the Chilkat watershed and the life it sustains in the valley. They invited the broader community to participate, and a large number of people came.
Under a steady rain, organizers set up shelters and start a fire by the bridge over the Klehini river, 26 miles from Haines. They hold hands, and listen to Lani Hotch tell the story of how Raven brought fresh water to the world. And they hope for a good turnout. The event is a water blessing ceremony, hosted by residents of Klukwan. Hotch is an organizer.
Hotch: ”We have very deep roots here, and we feel a keen sense of responsibility to protect the river for future generations who will live here. And not just humans. The eagles are our neighbors, the bears are our neighbors, the wolves.”
Hotch says she sees eagles pick salmon out of the river, sometimes out of her own fishing net. She says she often finds the remnants of those fish at the bottom of a tree. The carcasses decompose into the soil, and feed the trees, keeping the forest alive. Hotch says this healthy interconnection is threatened by the Palmer project, a large hard rock mine that is being planned upstream from her village.
Hotch: “We don’t want the mine, we don’t need the mine. Extraction economies, they are destructive, it’s not something we should build our hopes on. It doesn’t pay off in the long run. These salmon have supported our people for countless generations.”
Around noon, people start to trickle in.,building up to a crowd of over 150 people. Singing starts.
Organizer Nancy Keen leads children in songs and activities.
Keen: “We place a message onto a piece of wood. A prayer to the water. Klehini river. And just say a prayer, and give it back to the water. So now we have these kids here, and they are about to do the same.”
Finally, the crowd moves towards the bridge, carrying signs that say: “Nurture our wild river. We are all in this together. Protect the Klehini. Our rhythms are connected, and irreplaceable. No to the Palmer project, keep the river clean.”
They stop in the middle of the bridge and wait for Lani Hotch to speak. She is wearing the Chilkat River robe. In it she has woven symbols representing the five species of Salmon that return to spawn in the watershed. Hotch begins the ceremony.
Hotch: “Father God, Our Creator. Ever present Spirit. We need your help today. Out river, we want to protect it. We want it to flow in good health, in perpetuity, forever.”
Participants cast their pieces of wood and their blessing into the river.
Tribal president Kimberley Strong spoke.
Strong: “I think that we’ve never come out and said we are in opposition to the mine. We support the environment and the way of our lives that our ancestors have taught us. I am afraid of this hard rock acid mine, and what it will do to us.”
The crowd then slowly walked off the bridge.
Daniel Klanott is a resident of Klukwan, he was at the event.
Klanott: “I’m here today to stand with everybody else on protecting the water. We need to protect the water to protect the salmon, because salmon is a way of life in this valley.”
Resident Jack Strong agrees.
Strong: “I live in Klukwan,this is our life, it always has been our life for thousands of years. And I can’t see why we would want to change anything. For what? What is the gain for the world? To take and ruin this? Nothing.”
Tribal president Kimberley Strong is humble when speaking of her presence at the event.
Strong: “I’m not the person that developed this event, I am here because as a community leader, you follow your people. And so I’m here following my people who want to protect the environment and our river and our way of life.”
An international tribunal has recently accepted to hear a case brought by a coalition of Southeast Alaska native groups. They claim upstream pollution from Canadian mines violates their right to life, health, wellbeing and the “benefits of culture.”
Nancy Keen sees this regional organizing as positive.
Keen: “We are going to be at the table,and speak to these things that we know we have a right to speak to.The inherent right to our traditional foods. The way that we are going to take care of our world in a good way.”
Lani Hotch concurs.
Hotch: “Why is it ok to dump toxic waste? Is it because our people don’t count? What’s up with that? We need social justice for all people. We are not going to sit back and be quiet about it, this is our life, this is our way of life, this is our home.”
Representatives for Constantine Metals, who owns the Palmer project, did not respond to a request for comments on their relationship with the Chilkat Indian Village.
